Birmingham Gazette: Cycling
Contents
- A cycling tour through the western fringe of the Black Country, crossing the ridge dividing industrialism from rural Shropshire and visiting Kinver, Enville, Claverley and Rindleford. The author describes the wooded uplands of The Sheepwalks, charcoal burners' country, and the network of lanes around Claverley, one of Shropshire's prettiest villages.
- A historical account of Bewdley, derived from the French 'Beaudley' meaning beautiful place, tracing its history from before the Norman Conquest through its great fire of 1290, its 'Monmouth Caps' trade, and the work of engineer Thomas Telford. The route from Birmingham passes through Quinton, Halesowen, Hagley and Kidderminster.
- A ride along the River Severn from Bewdley to Bridgnorth, crossing at each of four ferries: Arley, Highley, Hampton Loade, and Quatford. The 14-mile stretch is described as the most picturesque part of the Severn through the midlands, with riverside villages and the curious tufa rock formation at Quatford.
- An exploration of the twin Clee Hills in Shropshire — the Brown Clee (1,790 ft, the county's highest) and the Titterstone Clee (1,749 ft) — with routes to their summits from Bridgnorth and via the Bewdley-Ludlow road. The chapter covers the quarried heights, ancient heath, bog-cotton, and the tiny Norman church at Heath.
- A tour through the alternating dales and hill-lines between the Brown Clee and Church Stretton, taking in Corve Dale, Wenlock Edge, Caer Caradoc — said to be Caractacus' last stand — and the medieval town of Much Wenlock with its ruined priory used as the Council Chamber. Rich in beautiful old houses and grass-grown tracks rewarding patient exploration.
- A journey through the Shropshire coalfield — Coalport, Ironbridge, Coalbrookdale, and Buildwas — evoking the hellish spectacle of 30 blast furnaces that once blazed across this narrow valley a century before. The author notes that this old industrial area can be deeply interesting even to country-lovers, with the famous End-to-End road passing close by.
- A ride through the triangle Wolverhampton–Shifnal–Gailey to seek out two celebrated landmarks: the oak tree at Boscobel in whose branches Charles II hid after the Battle of Worcester, and the reputed grave of 'Little Nell' in the churchyard at Tong village, made famous by Dickens's novel The Old Curiosity Shop.
- A ride along Watling Street — the great Roman military road linking London to the Welsh border — through Cannock, Penkridge and Weston-under-Lizard to the Roman city of Uriconium (Wroxeter). Once larger than Pompeii, Wroxeter served as a supply base for Roman forces holding the Welsh frontier, and its exposed baths and forum remains are described.
- An account of Cannock Chase, one of the last wild areas in the midlands, once known as Cank Forest, now a favourite of walkers and cyclists from the Staffordshire towns. The author describes its rolling heaths, hidden valleys, the military cemetery at Broadhurst Green, Abraham's Valley and the Rawns, noting how nature quickly covered the scars of the First World War.
- A tour along the Trent between Stone and Rugeley, where a near-continuous chain of stately homes — Wolseley Bridge, Colwich, Essex Bridge, Tixall and Sandon — earned the stretch its name 'Little Dukeries'. The chapter recounts the dark history of Tixall Hall, where Mary Queen of Scots' papers were seized, and the legendary 42-arched bridge said to have been built by an Elizabethan earl.
- An exploration of the northern edge of Needwood Forest in Staffordshire, where alabaster (gypsum) has been quarried, carved and built-with since Norman times, paving byways and adorning the churches of Lichfield, Hanbury and Tutbury. The route visits Lichfield, King's Bromley, Yoxall, Hanbury and Tutbury, with its castle ruins built by John of Gaunt.
- A ramble through the remnants of Needwood Forest, once said to be haunted by Robin Hood and associated with Tutbury, where he allegedly married Maid Marian. Starting from Lichfield, the route follows King's Bromley and Yoxall through dairy meadows before entering the wooded hills to Abbot's Bromley, famous for its ancient Horn Dance.
- A byway route from Barr Beacon and Shenstone to Lichfield, discovering the cathedral city's three-spired grandeur — consecrated in 700 as a shrine for St Chad — and its devastation during the Civil War when only the chapter house retained its roof. The twin church towers at Shenstone and Admiral Parker's memorial window are noted along the way.
- A ride through the peaceful countryside north of Birmingham — Sutton Coldfield, Little Hay, Weeford, Whittington, Elford, Harlaston and Clifton Campville — uncovering hidden historical connections including John Wyatt, inventor of the spinning machine, born at Weeford, and the alabaster tombs of the Stanley family at Elford church.
- A tour through the Saxon-settled Tame Valley, passing Minworth, Curdworth and Drayton Bassett to Tamworth — once the royal headquarters of King Offa of Mercia. The chapter covers the history of Tamworth Castle, Sir Robert Peel's connection to Drayton Bassett, Thomas Guy (founder of Guy's Hospital) and the great church of St Editha, wider than Lichfield Cathedral.
- A visit to Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire, once a rough 'waste' of rocky outcrops now partly farmed, featuring the ruins of Bradgate House (birthplace of Lady Jane Grey) and Newtown Linford, described as Leicestershire's prettiest village. The chapter also notes the disused Swithland slate quarries and the monks of Mt St Bernard's Abbey, who have built a new church amid the rocks.
- A ride over the ground of the Battle of Bosworth Field (1485), where Richard III lost both crown and life to Henry Richmond in the last battle of the Wars of the Roses, approached via Atherstone and Fenny Drayton. The author traces Henry's march from Shrewsbury through Lichfield and Tamworth and locates 'Richard's Well', the stone monument marking the king's last drink.
- An exploration of what was once the great Forest of Arden, covering most of Warwickshire north of the Avon, riding through Stonebridge, Meriden, Maxstoke and Coleshill. Meriden's old cross marks the reputed centre of England and stands beside the memorial to cyclists killed in the First World War; Maxstoke Castle, built in 1345, is described as remarkably unchanged.
- A circuit through the countryside around Kenilworth — a town that attracted many medieval kings and queens — taking in Bickenhall, Hampton-in-Arden, Berkswell with its ancient spring and Norman chancel, and the peaceful village of Ashow on the River Avon, often called Warwickshire's prettiest village. Stoneleigh Abbey and the mill at Guy's Cliff are also visited.
- A route from Temple Balsall — once a Knights Templar manor — through Honiley and Leek Wootton to Warwick, noting Packwood House's famous yew garden, the mill at Blacklow Hill (execution site of Piers Gaveston), and Warwick's Beauchamp Chapel at St Mary's church. The tour covers 25 miles from Birmingham via Elmdon, Barston and Temple Balsall.
- A ride south of the Warwickshire Avon through Kineton and Edge Hill to the Vale of Red Horse, named after a now-vanished turf figure of a horse cut into the red soil. The Battle of Edge Hill (1642), the opening engagement of the Civil War, is described in detail, followed by a visit to the Tudor manor house Compton Wynyates and the thatched stone village of Oxhill.
- A discovery of Baddesley Clinton, a medieval moated mansion hidden in the woods of the former Forest of Arden and a historic Catholic retreat with priests' hiding holes, tapestries and fine panelling. The route continues to Rowington, Shakespeare Hall, and the villages of Hampton Lucy and Charlecote — whose hall was built for Sir Thomas Lucy circa 1558 and transferred to the National Trust in 1945.
- A gentle exploration starting from Knowle, 10 miles from Birmingham's heart, and venturing to Packwood House (given to the National Trust by Baron Ash) with its remarkable sundials, yew garden, and beautiful interior, then on through Lowsonford, Preston Bagot, Claverdon, Wolverton and Snitterfield. The chapter celebrates the quiet lanes and old-world charm that survive despite suburban growth.
- A ride along the Fosse Way, one of three great Roman military roads crossing the midlands, through Halford, Compton Verney, the Chesterton windmill, Dunsmore Heath and High Cross. The author meditates on how Saxon settlers gave these straight Roman roads a wide berth, founding their villages some distance off the highway, leaving stretches of the ancient road still solitary and gate-crossed.
- An approach to the Cotswolds from the midlands via Clifford Chambers, Mickleton, Chipping Campden and Ebrington, evoking the wool-trade prosperity that built the region's magnificent churches and fine stone streets. Chipping Campden's Woolstaplers' Hall (600 years old), the ruins of Baptist Hicks's Campden House (destroyed by Cavaliers in 1645), and the sweeping Cotswold landscape are the highlights.
- A longer tour combining the Vale of Evesham and the Cotswold plateau, following the Icknield Street to Wixford with its enormous ancient yew, then through Bidford, Saintbury, the Swells and the Slaughters, Bourton-on-the-Water, Stow-on-the-Wold and Moreton-in-Marsh. The oolite limestone that gives Cotswold villages their distinctive honey colour is explained along the way.
- A ride along the dramatic north-western escarpment of the Cotswolds above the Vale of Evesham, likened to a coastal cliff-line that was indeed once a seashore, from Evesham through Broadway, Stanton, Stanway and Hayles Abbey to the pilgrim town of Winchcomb. The ruined Hayles Abbey, which drew medieval pilgrims with its relic of the Holy Blood, is contrasted with the still-standing George Inn and its pilgrims' gallery.
- A tour through the wooded maze of Warwickshire byways along the headwaters of the River Alne, visiting Tanworth-in-Arden, tree-bordered Henley-in-Arden, Wootton Wawen, Aston Cantlow, Great Alne, Kinwarton and Alcester. The 17th-century hall at Wootton Wawen with its cascades and classical bridge, and the 'Mother Huff Cap' inn at Great Alne, are singled out as curiosities.
- A ride along the ancient Icknield Street from Birmingham southward through Forhill, Beoley and Studley to Coughton and Alcester, tracing one of the pre-Roman tribal roads later used by the Romans to police the Welsh border. The author explains how the road fell into disrepair after Roman withdrawal, was partly remade by Telford in the coaching era, but can still be followed in stretches of straight green lane.
- A tour via the Ridgeway south of Redditch to Evesham, then around the flanks of Bredon Hill through Elmley Castle, the Lenches and Cropthorne. Elmley Castle church preserves three effigy-groups of its lords spanning 300 years, and the painted inn sign depicts the village welcoming Queen Elizabeth in 1575; the Lenches offer fine Norman doorways and ancient courts set in hop-and-orchard country.
- An exploration of the well-wooded lanes between Redditch and the Severn through Feckenham, Himbleton, Pershore and Bredon, covering countryside once blanketed by Feckenham Forest. The chapter highlights the half-timbered Huddington Court — home of the Winters, members of the Gunpowder Plot — and the village of Bredon with its fine Norman church and ancient tithe barn beside the Avon.
- An account of Droitwich's centuries-old salt industry, where brine springs have been exploited since Roman times to produce salt taxed at 3s. 4d. per bushel by the 18th century, driving up the price for ordinary labouring families. The chapter describes 360 furnaces operating there in 1539, the role of Feckenham Forest as fuel, and the nearby Hampton Lovett and Hanbury, with their connections to Elizabethan courtier Sir John Pakington.
- A ride through the Clent Hills, Belbroughton, Chaddesley Corbett, Harvington, Hartlebury, Holt Fleet and Ombersley, starting from the tiny hilltop church of St Kenelm built on the spot where a boy-king of Saxon Mercia was allegedly murdered. The chapter takes in the narrow wooded ravine between Walton and Clent, old records at Clent church including a 1575 decree against card-playing, and the quiet village of Hartlebury left in a backwater by a modern bypass.
- A celebration of the Malvern Hills — south of the Pennines, the only hills in England that look like mountains — with routes over the North Hill and West Malvern, through the rock gateway of The Wyche and along the western Jubilee Drive. The chapter covers the British Camp hillfort, the dark legend of Hangman's Hill (where forest-law offenders' bodies were hung in chains), and the springs and mineral waters that made Malvern famous.
- A portrait of Tewkesbury at the confluence of the Severn and Avon, reached by two Birmingham routes of 41 miles, focusing on the magnificent abbey church saved from Henrician dissolution when the townspeople paid £453 to buy it. The chapter recounts the Battle of Tewkesbury (1471), where Lancastrian leaders who sought sanctuary in the abbey were executed days later, and notes Mrs Craik's novel John Halifax, Gentleman set in the town.
- A ride through the bracken and hazel ridge between the Severn and the Teme — Abberley Hill, Woodbury Hill, and the Teme Valley — with its rich mix of cornfields, hopfields and cherry orchards. The chapter describes the ancient fortified hilltop at Woodbury, site of Owen Glendower's 1405 defensive stand against Henry IV, and the remote half-timbered cottage near the county boundary where an 84-year-old lady still lived in 1945.
- A week-end touring destination centred on Ludlow, whose castle was built by Roger de Lacy under William II on a narrow ridge encircled by the Rivers Teme and Corve, commanding the key route to the heart of Wales. The chapter describes the castle's six centuries of occupation, the magnificent 15th-century church tower, the rood-screen with grotesquely carved choir-stall seats, and the stained glass depicting Edward the Confessor's ring.